Life Changing Experiences

Chapter 6
The weekend was uneventful, apart from visiting Garfield. And now it’s Monday during lunch. Kitty, Tara and I sat at the table, eating lunch. Ever since Garfield came into my life, I’ve been considering some new things. I’ve often caught myself thinking why am I friends with these two? And then there’d be the obvious answer; we’re The Feared Three. No one is within 25 feet of our table, but that doesn’t mean the cafeteria is quiet. I have no idea why we’re even in here, but it was two against one.
I’ve also been questioning that ‘pact’ we made. To me, it seems childish. That’s something I don’t normally think about. All these questions have been buzzing in my mind, and I’m not sure if they should be there. Am I really growing up?
“Rachel. RACHEL!” yelled Kitty. “About time. You were spacing out, girl.” She was still angry with me, I could tell. To the normal person, she’d be good at hiding it. But not against me. I can see right through it.
“Sorry, I was thinking.” They looked at me like they just met me for the first time.
“Since when do you do deep thinking like that?” Tara said, with an accusing look.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, shrugging. They had bought it for now.
“Anyway,” Kitty said. “We got a lot to do today. During school, we’re going to harass people, and if they talk back we beat their face in. Second, we’re going to set off the fire alarm. Third…” she stopped mid-sentence as a boy walked up to our table. And it’s none other than Garfield.
“Hey, am I intruding?” he asked while standing there.
“Ye-“
“No you’re not, sit down please,” I cut off Kitty, pulling out a chair beside me. He smiled at me and sat down. Kitty and Tara seemed to change in this instant. It was quiet and we ate in silence – yes, quiet. As in, no one in the cafeteria was talking. Just staring at our table. I could feel the heavy tension in the air. There’s probably some whispering going on about what just happened at this table. Slowly, the talking in the cafeteria began to increase, and soon it was loud as can be again. I guarantee if I walked through it now, I’d hear our names a hundred times. This would be the biggest thing to happen in the school ever. No one has had the guts to walk up to our table. No one… until him.
“That was odd. Why was it quiet?” Garfield asked. I heard Kitty mumble a… not too pleasant response.
“Because, usually no one ever comes up to our table and lives to tell the tale,” Tara said darkly, half-glaring at Garfield. Although he was unfazed by it completely as he put on a huge smile. I noticed a slight falter in Tara’s expression - one of surprise.
“Guess I’m the first then, eh? Hahaha. This is a nice table. It’s less quiet than any other ones…”
“Yes, but it’s our table!” Kitty yelled, now in on the conversation. It’s obvious the two want him out of here. He was really intruding, but not really in my opinion. That’s probably what they would think though. Garfield either didn’t get the hint, or he’s braver than I thought he was.
“Okay. It’s our table. Sweet!” If I were on their side, he’d probably be breathing through a straw right now. Is he stupid? Well, he’s lucky I’m here. But… he’s lucky I’m here. Oh God, what if they try to hurt him outside of my presence? He’s really asking for it.
“No, our table as in mine, Rachel’s, and Kitty’s. NOT yours,” Tara said through clenched teeth, obviously getting angry. Well, angrier.
“I’m sure Rachel would disagree,” he said turning his head to me, giving me that smile of his.
“Yes, Garfield is not intruding. This can be a table for four now.” Wow, did I just say that? I guess I’m taking a liking to Garfield. No, not that kind of liking!
“W-what?! First, you invite him out with us to Tara’s house. Now he’s also part of our table. OURS, the one where we made our pact?” Kitty said darkly. Tara was also pissed, but a lot more reserved. You could tell through her facial expression alone. Garfield was oblivious, yet again.
“Hey, what’s wrong with making new friends?” Garfield said, his smile still never leaving his face. I think this threw them over the edge. Tara, in one quick burst stood up and grabbed Garfield by his collar, dragging his face just inches away from her own. Her expression was pissed, annoyed, irritated… oh yeah, this wasn’t going to end well. I stood up as well, and again the cafeteria grew eerily quiet…
“You came here uninvited, but Rachel said it was okay. We didn’t, but just this once we let the pact go into question because it’s obvious you two are friends. But the problem is, we aren’t friends, nor do we want to be your friend. You’re lucky Rachel is on your side, because we don’t even know what we’d do to you.” She explained it loudly, and Garfield finally caught on that he was not wanted. He was trembling and I heard him gulp loudly.
“Let him go,” I said. Tara and Kitty turned to look at me, and then Tara pushed him down. He would’ve hit the ground hard had I not have caught him. I was nearing the breaking point…
“I can’t believe you’re letting that… that… orphan come in here and get between us. This pretty-boy alone can have the power to make Rachel forget about who her real friends are. The ones who stuck together through it all! The ones who didn’t give each other the cold shoulder and stayed together no MATTER WHAT!” Kitty screamed; the whole cafeteria was able to hear her loud and clear. And, this brought me to my breaking point. I helped Garfield to his feet, and I stood at my full height.
“You know, Kitty, I’ve been wondering… are you two really my friends?” I said the most hurtful thing I could think of to them. Their expressions were of pure horror and shock. And it was the truth. I have been wondering if these two were really my friends for a while. “Garfield has actually opened my eyes. You two aren’t what I’d call friends. You two aren’t people I want to know about. You make me ashamed of myself that I actually CALLED you friends in the first place!” They were both on the verge of tears.
“Fine. We’re no longer friends,” they both said sadly, and each started exiting the cafeteria. Everyone’s eyes stayed glued to the two girls, slowly walking out, and their heads down. It wasn’t easy saying that, and it is hard to let go of the past. But, it had to be done. I looked over at Garfield, now sitting down, head in his hands. I sat down beside him. This was going to be talk for a while now… and eventually, the voices picked up again. Yes, it was the end of The Feared Three.
“Rae, I’m so sorry,” he said gloomily. It was the first time he called me ‘Rae’, and for once, I wasn’t annoyed at being called that.
“Don’t be sorry. Those two have been a horrible influence on me. Only since have I met you have I been questioning my motives as to why exactly I want to be feared. Those two are immature and if I didn’t do that, I fear I would never be able to reform myself,” I explained to him. He looked up at me, eyes glistening. He was probably sobbing. But he seemed to stop now. “Besides, if they’re gone, this means I can… make new friends.”
“You… you really mean that?” he asked.
“Yes, I really do. And I was stupid up until I’ve met you. All that pain I caused, all the people and families I made suffer… I don’t know why I did it. I guess it was just something I wanted to be proud of in my life. And it was a stupid thing as well…”
“I see. Thanks for catching me, by the way.” I blushed slightly at that, and nodded to him. “Also, Rachel, after detention would you like to hang out with me again?”
“That would be nice. Of course I would… but… we can’t go to my house.”
“No problem. We’ll just go around the city. Maybe you could point out some stuff to me?”
“That sounds great… and… I’m going to start reforming myself by going to all my classes every day.”
“Maybe we have some classes together. What do you have after lunch?”
“Drama… I… really like acting.”
“Really? So do I! What room number?”
“212.”
“Sweet, we have class together!” Well that was a pleasant surprise. Having class with him would be great. It’ll also help my reputation recover. If people see me acting with him, then maybe they’ll think I’m not so bad anymore. And just then, the bell rang. We proceeded to drama class together, and finally got there. It wasn’t too far from the caf, and we both entered at the same time. There were some whispers, obviously about us. Everyone already probably knew about what happened in there. The teacher looked surprised as well.
“Please take your seats,” he called.
“Hey Rachel, no one is sitting next to my desk yet.”
“I’ll take it then,” I said and we sat down. The teacher still seemed very surprised, but pleasantly, at my entrance. Everyone was looking at me. He cleared his throat and everyone paid attention to him now.
“Okay class, for our next assignment, you are each going to create your own play and present it to the class. We will spend the next two and a half weeks working on it. Today is the start of it. It will be in groups, so do not worry about doing it on your own. You can choose your groups now.”
“Hey Rachel, how about you and I?”
“Sure, Garfield. Let’s get a third person though,” I said. Three people would be better because a play would be hard to do with less than that many.
“Alright, sounds good!” he exclaimed happily. I could tell he was very happy to work with me. And it was good, because I was actually happy to work with him. For once, I’m happy about something other than being feared. He looked to the left and saw a boy with black spiked hair and shades on sitting alone, trying to look cool. He didn’t look that impressive. Anyway, Garfield got up. I suppose he was going to be our third partner.
“Hey man,” Garfield said approaching the guy.
“Hi,” he said. Wow, for someone who tried to look cool, he didn’t have the voice at all.
“What’s your name?”
“Richard. Richard Grayson.”
“Cool, Richard. You want to be in our group?”
“Our? Who’s our?”
“Rachel Roth,” I spoke up, now behind Garfield. He looked at me.
“Hey, weren’t you that one girl in The Feared Three?”
“I guess I was, but not anymore. So, do you want to be in our group or not?” I asked him patiently. Another thing I’m picking up on is being able to tolerate people. Before, I could hardly stand talking to someone unless they got to the point fast. But I guess I was just getting more accustomed to it now.
“Sounds cool. You don’t… want to hurt me, do you?”
“No, of course not. I’m…” I looked at Garfield, and he nodded at me smiling. I looked back at Richard. “I’m reformed now, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Alright, nice.” And we sat down, starting to create an idea for a play. It’s not easy, but I think it would be more than worth it later.

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Well, the three of us got a basic concept of the type of play we want. But there’s a problem: we need a fourth person. We had asked this African American male, Victor Stone, to join our group as well. He was a little hesitant, but we were able to talk him into it. I still can’t find myself being all too nice to people, except Garfield. I pulled out a cigarette as we walked towards the bus station.
“You know, that stuff is going to kill you one day,” Garfield said, not approving of my smoking attitude at all.
“I only have one per day after school. It can’t be that bad.”
“It doesn’t matter, Rae. One a day or ten a day, it will kill you one day. I… think you should quit.” I raised my eyebrow at him. I took another puff of the cigarette and put it down and stomped on it. I only took two puffs of it. But what’s funnier is… I actually did what he said. Why?
“Well, I guess today I don’t need one.”
He smiled, and we boarded the bus to go to his house. Richard said he’d meet us there, because he had something important to do after school. Yeah, I think my life is definitely starting to improve.